Missing taco restaurant owner says he was in Fresno hospital — shares a fundraiser
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Taco truck owner Armando Arias Jr. said he was hospitalized for six days and released.
- Fresno police confirmed Arias had been found safe after a missing-persons report.
- Arias faced a $507,000 court judgment and unpaid rent while his restaurant stayed closed.
The taco truck and restaurant owner who went missing earlier this week in Fresno has surfaced – and says he was in the hospital for six days.
Armando Arias, Jr., owner of Tacos El Cabezon, said in an Instagram story Tuesday evening that he was in the hospital, but did not say why. Police had confirmed Arias had been found safe Monday, but no additional details were shared.
The statement on the cabezontacos559 page said: “Thank you to everyone who reached out and showed concern for me. I truly appreciate it. I was hospitalized at Fresno Community since last Wednesday, but by the grace of God I was released today. I’m sorry if anyone thought I was missing – I wasn’t. I just needed some time to recover.
“To those who spoke good about me and even those who spoke bad, I still send love to you all. God bless everyone.”
Arias made headlines and caused a social media firestorm earlier this week, when Fresno Police confirmed he was the subject of a missing-persons report. His Fulton Street restaurant has been closed for several days. A trail of financial issues surfaced in the wake of the news, including a $507,000 court judgment against him and unpaid rent at two of his locations.
Arias did not immediately return messages seeking comment via his cell phone or Instagram account Wednesday. Attempts to reach Arias on Monday and Tuesday were unsuccessful as well.
Fundraising?
Also Wednesday, the Tacos El Cabezon Instagram account had a link to a GoFundMe fundraising account. As of 10 a.m., it went to a “fundraiser not found” page.
But images of it online before it was no longer active show it had raised $2,400.
The description includes a message, presumably from Arias, saying that he had invested $25,000 of his own money into his popular taco trailer parked at Maroa and Shaw avenues two days before receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the County of Fresno.
Fresno County ordered him to stop doing business at the location Feb. 13 because he was not operating with the proper permit that included a traffic study of the area, according to a county representative.
“When we lost our Shaw & Maroa location, our sales dropped dramatically. At that point we were left with only our restaurant, but it took several weeks before we could open. During that time, our food trailer alone wasn’t generating enough income for us to get by,” the post said.
It continued: “Recently, I was also hospitalized for six days, and during that time we had to close, which set us back even more.
“It’s very humbling – and honestly a little embarrassing – for me to share this. But I believe in being real with the community that has supported us from the beginning,” it said.
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This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 10:44 AM.
